Bishop of Durham and noted English biblical scholar famous for his ground-breaking works on the Apostolic Fathers and commentaries on the Pauline epistles. His model of Christian scholarship remains hugely relevant today.
Born in Liverpool, Lightfoot attended Trinity College, Cambridge, from which he graduated in the classics and mathematics, and was elected a fellow of his college. He was the editor of the Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology from 1854-59, became a tutor and was made Hulsean professor in 1861. By then his fame as a scholar challenging the influence of liberal German theolgoy was already firmly established. He was appointed canon of St Paul's Cathedral (London) and then, in 1875, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity. Four years later he was consecrated bishop of Durham, an office he held until his death. The obit in The Times says of him:
It was always patent that what he was chiefly concerned with was the substance and the life of Christian truth, and that his whole energies were employed in this inquiry because his whole heart was engaged in the truths and facts which were at stake.
More than his ecclesiastical accomplishments Lightfoot is today remembered as an outstanding scholar and his commentaries on Paul's epistles to the Galatians, Philippians and Colossians were hugely popular. In 2013, NT scholar Ben Witherington III discovered a cache of his hand-written but incomplete manuscripts on John's Gospel, Acts, 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter in the Durham Cathedral Library; these have since been published by Inter-Varsity Press.
Resources:
☰ F. F. Bruce, "J. B. Lightfoot (died 1889): Commentator and Theologian," Evangel 7.2 (9189): 10-12. pdf
☰ Biblical Studies.org.uk html
☰ J. B. Lightfoot, St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians pdf
☰J. B. Lightfoot, St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians pdf
☰ J. B. Lightfoot, Notes on the Epistles of Paul from Unfinished Commentaries. This volume consists of notes on 1 & 2 Thess, 1 Cor, Eph, and Rom published post-humously. pdf
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